Naruko Uzumaki: Release of the Warden
by Realag
Summary: Jinchuuriki. Power of human sacrifice. Scorned and hated for their duty. A single god that watched over one of them and decided that it was time to release her from her duty. It was time to to set the warden Naruko Uzumaki free.
1. Prologue

**Disclaimer: I do not own Naruto or any anime/manga/game/comics elements used in this story. They belong to their respective authors.**

"_Thoughts"_

"Normal talking"

"**Summon/bijuu talking"**

"_**Summon/bijuu thinking"**_

_**Jutsus**_

_**Naruko Uzumaki – Release of the Warden**_

**Prologue**

Elemental nations. World that had lots of wars and conflicts. World where lots of blood were spilled during the centuries. World which was depressing, where peace was fragile and continued several decades at best. One god was watching over this world. Watching and thinking.

It was highly ironic that he of all gods was tasked to watch other this world. Even now he remembered the day then Kami, with some amusement in her eyes, gave him this task. He could swear that he heard laughing then he left her halls. And he didn't share her amusement.

Though, he supposed, it was fitting. God of death watching over the world, where blood was spilled almost constantly. It was quite amusing to watch humans fight among themselves. It was highly entertaining and even peaceful, quite a break from his other duties as ruler of death realm.

Or so Shinigami thought for the first few centuries.

The break didn't last long. Far from it. Though the first few centuries were peaceful: some groups of bandits, some warlords trying to conquer everything, but that didn't last long. Not long enough to warrant his attention at least. But, of course, came a day then shit hit a fan.

You see he wasn't the only celestial being in this world. Oh, far from it. There were ten others. Quite powerful spirits of nature. Not powerful enough to pose gods treat, even if grouped together, but powerful enough to cause quite a havoc in the world if they wanted. Though they were peaceful in nature, rarely interacting with humans and avoiding heavily populated areas, sometimes they wandered around disguised as humans. Of course those spirits weren't perfect and some of them were quite prideful, but conflicts were avoided for a few centuries.

Until one of the spirits curiosity and pride brought a catastrophe to the world.

Juubi, the most powerful of the spirits, visited humans more often than others. To him they were interesting creatures. Limited by their short lifespan they still struggled to survive and get stronger. Their feelings and relationships were interesting things for Juubi. Concept of love, fear, hate and friendship was alien to him and he wanted to explore it. After a while he decided to pursue relationships with some of the humans. At first there were just some conversations, but later he was introduced to one of the arts humans practiced.

Martial arts.

Though concept of protecting others was alien to Juubi, concept of getting strength wasn't. He soon started to learn an art and become good at it. Good enough not to lose a single fight even with a limited abilities human body possessed. Until he met a master of an art.

Juubi and the martial arts master thought several times and Juubi lost all of them. He didn't use his true power, but his pride was hurt. In his mind humans, while amusing, were inferior beings and getting beaten by the human, no matter how skillful, was a thing he couldn't tolerate. So he used some of his power and butchered the man with his bare hands, while being watched by hundreds of people.

And then chaos happened.

Shinigami sighed then he remembered that. It all started because of Juubi's pride and humans were quick to attack back. Even though they couldn't kill Juubi they managed to hurt him. Maddened by pain he brought destruction to the world. So much of destruction that Shinigami had to do something.

And so he did.

But he couldn't do much directly. Going in and destroying the Juubi by himself was a big no-no from Kami. He couldn't interfere directly. All he could do was offer advice and give some gifts. So he chose one of the humans, a human with a kind heart, a human who believed in peace and gave him a tiny part of his power, creating the first bloodline limit in the world.

Rinnegan.

He gave human a tiny bit of power from all six realms of death and rebirth and advised to seek help from other spirits to subdue Juubi. And so the human did, but something happened that Shinigami didn't expect.

They refused.

The other nine spirits refused to interfere, seeing humans as pitiful beings and thinking that it was their own fault for angering a higher being. And so the human had to fight alone.

It was the fight of a centuries. A single human, with a blessing of Shinigami, against the spirit of nature itself - Juubi. It took a week, but the human actually won. Against all odds he won. Even Shinigami himself didn't believe that he will win alone but he did. He ripped Juubi's spirit from his body and sealed body inside the moon. Juubi's life force spread across elemental nations, restoring almost dead world to life. Juubi's spirit human sealed inside himself with a tiny bit of power that was left from Juubi becoming a cage to a beast. And so the sage became first Jinchuuriki. Power of human sacrifice.

And so peace came. And it might have lasted for thousands of years if not for a thing that happened following Juubi's destruction.

The birth of chakra.

Because Juubi's power was stripped from the spirit it didn't have anywhere to go. So it spread across the world and came inside to all beings that had some kind of life. Animals and even plants. And, of course, the most advanced beings in the world.

Humans.

The human who defeated Juubi traveled around the world and taught others how to control this new power. And so first ninjas were born. After a while they became clans with similar ways of molding chakra and similar thinking on how to use such power. While newly named Sage of Six paths was alive peace lasted and his teachings spread around the world.

But he died.

And with his death newly formed clans began to fight among themselves. None could win, so they sought some kind of power boost. And so they tried to catch other spirits and seal them, like Sage did to Juubi, to get their power.

And war between Bijuu and humans started. Though humans couldn't kill them, with their new knowledge on chakra and art of seals they could seal them. Though one man showed up who could actually control them while they weren't sealed.

Hashirama Senju.

He was peaceful man, highly similar to sage. He was first to unite several of the clans and form the first hidden village in elemental nations. Konoha – village hidden in the leaves. His view and belief in 'Will of fire' was highly popular among the village. He managed to subdue Bijuu and gave them to other recently formed villages as peace offering, only keeping the most powerful of them himself.

One would think that Bijuu, being as intelligent as humans, wouldn't be so easily defeated, or viewed as beasts and bargain chips. But hey would be wrong. Following the destruction of Juubi, it's life force that later became chakra for humans affected spirits in totally different way than humans.

It drove them mad.

That life force gave them feelings they didn't knew they had. Not knowing how to deal with them they were slowly, but surely succumbing to them. Feelings that humans constantly felt and that they now felt with their new empathic abilities, became their greatest weaknesses. Their reluctance to watch other humans and interact with them in the past, they reluctance to investigate those feelings became their downfall.

Hashirama Senju became first Hokage of newly formed village and a peace came once a again to elemental nations. For a while.

Shinigami sighed again. What followed after Hashirama's coronation was never ending cycle of wars and hatred. One of hidden villages would become greedy and try to control more territory. Others would use opportunity. After war ends there will be a decade of peace or so and cycle will repeat itself. After first two shinobi wars Shinigami stopped watching the world for a while. He figured that it will repeat at least twice more until humans will figure out that their way of doing things doesn't work.

So Shinigami spend most of his time in his realm, only sparring a rare glance to shinobi world. Until one fateful day several years ago then something unexpected happened. Something that managed to greatly surprise even Shinigami himself.

He was summoned.

And it wasn't some kind of silly ritual with hundreds if not thousands of sacrifices that, at best, managed to summon one of his servants that took more day-to-day duties. No it wasn't anything like that. He was summoned by a single man. A single human. And his name was forever recorded inside Shinigami's mind as a human that earned his respect. A thing that not even the sage, he gave a gift to, so many years ago managed to achieve.

Minato Namikaze.

With a single glance Shinigami could feel the power of that man. A power that demanded respect from humans. An unmovable spirit and will that defied odds and couldn't be moved or broken even by the gods themselves. He was tall handsome man with sun-kissed blonde hair and dark blue eyes, that reflected his unbreakable spirit. In his arms he was holding a little red headed child. A girl. Next to him was his wife Kushina Uzumaki. She was breathing and sweating heavily, but even now you couldn't deny her beauty, her long red hair flowing freely down her back and her purple eyes showing the same strength of will as Minato's. It would be perfect family picture if not for another being that was chained with chakra chains before them.

Kyuubi.

Shinigami knew that while other spirits succumbed to various feelings, Kyuubi was hit the worst. Kyuubi succumbed to hatred, becoming a raging, unstoppable beast like Juubi so many years ago. Even now he could barely see a glint of intelligence in her eyes. Formerly one of the most wise and powerful spirits reduced to a raging beast for the mistake of one of her kin.

It was sad.

Shinigami listened how Minato said his request to seal the beast inside his daughter and offered his soul as a price. He said nothing and for a few seconds thought about situation. It was almost impossible to summon him into human realm. Even then he dealt with that sage he didn't come by himself, rather sending an aspect of his. This was a very rare opportunity. Being summoned by a human bypassed almost all of Kami's laws. He could influence the outcome of this situation however he wanted as long as he granted the request of the one who summoned him. While his servants didn't had to grant anything then they were summoned, Shinigami was honor bound to grant any request then a price was summoner's soul. Sealing Kyuubi inside his child effectively put the child inside his sphere of power.

Shinigami said nothing and granted the man's request. He grabbed Kyuubi's spirit and sealed it and it's power inside the child, staying for a bit longer and watching the final moments of a family. Then he decided to do something else. He collected parents souls then they died and touched the soul of a child, giving her his mark. After that he left to his realm.

The following years Shinigami was angry. No, scratch that, he was plain livid. The child that effectively protected the village from Kyuubi's anger was scorned, hated, tortured. Even some of the people in hell received only barely a scratch of torture and hatred the little red haired girl received in her childhood.

And through it all he couldn't help but admire the girls strength. She didn't give up. She fought for her life, for acknowledgment day and night. She really inherited the will of her parents who didn't even flinched in the presence of death. Literally.

He watched and really understood just what jinchuuriki really were. Power of human sacrifice, indeed. Holders of ancient spirits that were cursed for the mistake and pride of the one. Scorned and hated by their own people for their duty. A duty they didn't chose. Wardens of the prisons that hold the spirits at bay. Their will was the cage and a key. Hated. Scorned. Feared.

As Shinigami watched the child he touched seven years ago running away from yet another mob he came into decision. It was time to release her from her suffering. It was time to release her from her duty, for she wasn't a prison but rather a prisoner of hate that took hold over whole shinobi world.

It was time to release Naruko Uzumaki from her duty.

It was time to set the warden free. And may Kami have mercy on the souls of fools that wronged her.

Because he won't.

**A.N.** _And here is the prologue of the new story. Don't know about pairings yet but it will be most likely Naruko X Hinata. Please review and tell me what you think. Next chapter will probably be in a week or two, depending on how writing of my other story will be going. I hope you will enjoy this chapter and cya soon._

_Realag_


	2. Chapter 1

**Disclaimer: I do not own Naruto or any anime/manga/game/comics elements used in this story. They belong to their respective authors.**

"_Thoughts"_

"Normal talking"

"**Summon/bijuu talking"**

"_**Summon/bijuu thinking"**_

_**Jutsus**_

_**Naruko Uzumaki – Release of the Warden**_

**Chapter 1**

Konohagukure no Sato – village hidden in the leaves. Known as the strongest of the five great shinobi villages. It's views on teamwork and the 'Will of Fire' were widely known across elemental nations. Konoha produced a lot of highly skilled ninjas during the years it stood. Since it's founding Konoha always held the position of the strongest village, their shinobi teams were widely known for their almost perfect teamwork and rarely, if ever, failing their missions. Truly Konoha looked like a perfect village – with no corruption, where everyone were happy with their life, both civilians and ninja populations.

Except it wasn't.

Nothing was perfect in the world – it was impossible to be and Konoha wasn't an exception. The happy and perfect village was nothing more than a facade, like a green tree that was, in truth, rotten to a core. In truth Konoha was far from it's glory days, during the rule of first Hokage. Recent third shinobi war and Kyuubi no Yoko's attack on the village were heavy blows to Konoha. In truth they lost almost half of their ninja population in those attacks, the only saving grace being that Konoha still had highly skilled jounin rank ninjas that were able to keep a facade of a strong village.

That and their resident jinchuuriki – Naruko Uzumaki.

Though Third Hokage released a law that none of the village population could speak about the child's burden, in truth it was carefully calculated move. If he wanted so, none would have known about the burden young girl had to bear. But he told the elders, knowing full well that information will leak. Truthfully he had no other choice. Kyuubi's attack was unexpected and they still haven't been recovered from third shinobi war. Having jinchuuriki of the most powerful of tailed beasts guaranteed that Konoha won't be attacked by other villages. At least for some time.

Now, knowing that Konoha's population knew about little Naruko's burden, one would think that she was handled with care, respect even. After all with each breath she was having, she held the mighty beast, that could easily destroy Konoha, at bay. One would think that she would be showered with gifts and affection, if not for gratitude at least for the fear of mighty beast getting out. You could easily assume such things.

And you would be wrong.

Little Naruko didn't receive any gifts, nor she got any affection – be that a simple hug or a light pat to a head. No, the only 'gifts' she got were poison in her food and kunais that ninjas so 'kindly' gave her by throwing them at her. The only affection she got were constant beatings, be that in the orphanage or in the streets. Now one would again think that third Hokage, being a kind old man he was, would know of such things and would stop them before they would get too far, if not for the little, innocent girl, then at least for the fear of Kyuubi getting out.

And once again you would be wrong.

Hokage indeed knew of the beatings and he didn't put a stop on them. Oh no, he did something far worse. He did nothing. The way he saw it he could show up after a very harsh beating and look like a hero to a little girl. Showing a bit of affection to little girl, knowing full well that she didn't get any and soon she would look up to him, maybe even love him as grandfather figure. A few years of this and he will have a loyal jinchuuriki willing to die for him and Konoha. Truthfully it was child brainwashing at it's highest, a plan worthy of legendary 'Kami no Shinobi' who survived not one, but two great shinobi wars and came on top – Hiruzen Sarutobi. And what is most sad is that it would have worked if not for a single little detail.

Someone actually cared for a child.

Now that someone wasn't a villager or ninja of Konoha, nor he was from any other village. He was the one who actually witnessed and did the sealing of Kyuubi no Yoko seven years ago. A being that knew everything about child's suffering and was angered deeply by it. A being that respected and knew about her parents and the one who admired little girl's strength. A god of death – Shinigami.

And now he was coming to Konoha for a visit.

_/Scene break./_

It was October 10th. A little red haired girl was running through narrow alleys and streets. She had long, red hair that was reaching her mid back. Her eyes were of dark blue color. She was wearing a simple white T-shirt with Uzumaki swirl on the back and simple black shorts. On her face, on each cheek were three whisker marks.

She was jinchuuriki of Kyuubi no Yoko – Naruko Uzumaki.

Behind her was a mob of villagers and a few ninjas she was running away from. They all were armed with knives, torches and kunais. They target seemed fast – she already managed to avoid them for an hour, but they knew that she won't be able to run forever. The particular alley the girl turned to was leading to a dead end. Some chuckled. Dead end – such a fitting name, for if everything will go the way they wanted the demon wearing little girl's skin will die there.

They didn't knew how wrong they were.

Naruko turned once again and suddenly had to stop. Because before her was a thing that scared her. A simple wall. She wasn't scared because of the wall, no she was scared because there was no escape. Even now she could hear angry shouts coming closer and closer towards her. She doubted if she will survive tonight. Even though the little girl didn't know why villagers were angry at her she didn't really care. She knew that there was a reason – everything had a reason, and she wasn't naïve. She knew all to well that the nice old man that sometimes showed after the beatings could have helped her much more. She also knew that he ordered someone to watch her, even now she could feel someone on the rooftops watching her. And even more – she knew that the old man knew the reason, why she was hated, she also knew that he knew about her parents, from a little flinch she could see when she asked him about them once.

You see, for a seven year old girl Naruko was very smart. If her circumstances would have been any different she would be hailed as prodigy. From the very young age she watched and learned to read people, to know their emotions and hide her own. It was a vital skill for her survival, because she knew barely two people who cared for her. The old man with a hat didn't count, he might care for her a little, but he had some other motives that she didn't know about. Then were are nice ramen chiefs that sometimes feed her and hide her from the mobs. She could tell that their caring was sincere, not like the old man's. That or they were very good actors.

But now Naruko knew that none of them would help. Ramen chiefs could do nothing in this situation and that old man won't show up for some time. There were no way to avoid the pain she was about to receive. Soon the first villagers with torches showed up. Naruko's was very afraid now.

"Finaly we managed to catch you demon!" one of the villagers shouted.

"I did nothing wrong! Please, leave me alone!" Naruko shouted, while sobbing.

"You killed our families demon! And now you will die!" one of the ninja shouted and drew a kunai from his pouch. He then threw it to the little girl, aiming to the heart.

Naruko closed her eyes, waiting for the pain that will soon come and prayed in her mind. _"Kami, please, someone help me!". _

And her prayer was heard.

Not feeling any pain, Naruko carefully opened her eyes and before her saw something that surprised her. Before her stood a tall man, wearing a black kimono. His hair was black as midnight. She couldn't see his eyes from where she was, but for some reason she knew that they were endless black orbs that seamed to suck in the light if you looked into them for too long. Every sense of her screamed that the man before her was very, very dangerous, but for some reason she couldn't help but feel some kind of connection to him.

Shinigami was holding a kunai that a ninja threw with two fingers. He briefly glanced at Naruko to see if she was hurt, seeing no injuries he inwardly sighed in relief. _"Good that she isn't injured. If she was I don't know if I would be able to hold myself from destroying this ungrateful village, Kami and her rules be damned. Hell if I told her about situation she might just do it herself. There is nothing more sacred to her than a life of a child."_ He then looked at the fools before him, silently memorizing their faces and souls. Then their time will come he and they will spend a little bit of their time, and Shinigami will ensure that they will receive the same treatment as Naruko.

Thousandfold.

Some of the more brave ninja were about to talk, but Shinigami wasn't in the mood for talking. He used a bit of his power and put everyone around to a deep sleep. He then threw a kunai back to the ninja, hitting his leg, but Shinigami's power preventing ninja from waking up. He then took sleeping Naruko in his arms and just disappeared.

_/Inside Naruko's mindspace./_

Naruko was waking up. Last thing she remembered was a man dressed in black and then for some reason she got really sleepy. She then looked around. As far as she could tell she was in some kind of sewer. She then looked around a bit more and noticed a table and two chairs. On one chair was sitting the man she saw before passing up, calmly sipping tea. He most have sensed that she woke up, because he stopped drinking tea and looked at her.

"Ah, you are finally awake. Come, sit, I could use a company." the man said.

Naruko didn't say anything and sat before him. The man smiled lightly and put a cup on the table.

"Now, Naruko, you must have some questions, so ask."

Indeed Naruko had some questions. She noticed that the man was using her name, so he knew some things about her. The fact that he was using her name and not usual _demon brat _she heard from villagers also showed that he didn't had any anger towards her. She could also tell that he was powerful. More powerful than that old man Hokage, but his power felt different. It was like a chill. Chill of death. Her mind processing all that information in a few seconds came up with a question.

"What are you?"

Shinigami raised an eyebrow at the girl. She was quite surprising. She remained calm even though he could feel a little bit of fear from her. And he didn't expect for a child's first question to be about him. He surely thought that the first question will be where they are. _"It's... refreshing... to be surprised after so many years. Now I know that I won't regret coming here."_

"An interesting question. I'm god of death - Shinigami."

Naruko's eyes widened a bit, but she just nodded. It would explain the power she felt from the man.

"Am I dead?" Naruko asked.

Shinigami was surprised once more. She reacted more calmly than he thought she will. She just nodded, like meeting a god of death was everyday thing! Though, he supposed, maybe it was. _"Poor child. She had so many near death experiences, that even meeting death itself was barely a surprise to her."_

Shinigami then shook his head. "No you aren't. At the moment we are in your mindspace. Your body is safe inside your apartment. I thought that it would be more fitting to have our little talk here."

Naruko then looked around once again. "So my mind is a sewer? Well shit..."

Shinigami couldn't help it, he chuckled. "Indeed, little one. Though you can change your surroundings here with some practice. I suggest to try it later, though. Now, I think we should discuss why I came here."

Naruko nodded and waited for Shinigami to continue.

"The main reason I came to you is to tell you the truth about the day you were born. The day your parents died and sealed in you Kyuubi no Yoko." and so Shinigami told Naruko everything, not missing any details.

After he finished Naruko was silent for a minute, still processing the information. "I guess that explains everything. Hokage didn't tell me about my parents because he wanted to make me a loyal weapon for the village. I'm a little angry on my parents, but I guess I would have done the same if I was in their place. Kyuubi might have attacked later even if they did something else and they and I would have died together with all Konoha's ninjas and villagers. I guess I'm a little happy to know that in their dieing breath they protected me and that they loved me." Naruko said with a small smile in her face.

Naruko's words brought smile to Shinigami's face. Everything he saw while talking to Naruko only reinforced the other reason he came here. At first it was only an idea, a thought, and he wasn't sure if the girl would be able to handle what he was about to do. But now he was sure.

"Naruko, the truth is that wasn't the only reason why I came here. The truth is I came here to set you free."

Naruko raised her eyebrow at that "Set me free? What do you mean by that Shinigami-sama?" she asked with respect.

Shinigami smiled lightly. "It has dual meaning. First is to get rid of your jinchuuriki status. I will take Kyuubi with me to my realm and she will reincarnate after going through all six realms of death and rebirth. You will not be jinchuuriki anymore. It is a heavy duty to be the warden of the bijuu and I decided that because of your life so far you will be released from it."

Naruko's eyes widened at that. Not being jinchuuriki meant that she could go away from the village that hated her and get a new life. She wanted to be a ninja, but she had no loyalties to Konoha. Maybe she could go to Kumo... But then everything what Shinigami said registered in her mind.

"And the other meaning?" she asked.

Shinigami smiled a bit wider. "I will set you free from being alone. Being alone is a sad existence and none should have to endure it. Especially not a child. I watched your life and saw how lonely you were so I decided to give you something you never had. Your parents."

Naruko's eyes widened. She could meet her parents. She could see her mother and father, to receive hugs and love she didn't knew. The thought alone almost brought the girl to tears.

"I could be with Kaa-san and Tou-san?" asked Naruko with barely a whisper and in the voice full of hope.

Shinigami nodded. "Yes, though there are some limitations. As a god of death my influence is over afterlife. I can't actually resurrect your parents. Only Kami herself has influence over life. But I can do the second best thing. I can bring the souls of your parents here, inside your mindspace. They will always be with you and you will be able to talk with them with your thoughts. Who knows, maybe one day, if you learn sealing techniques, you may actually create new bodies for them? That art is really only limited by user's imagination. So what do you think, Naruko? Do you want to see your parents?"

Naruko could only nod, not trusting her voice at the moment. Shinigami smiled and with a simple wave two people appeared inside Naruko's mindspace. No lights or wind or some grand show – they just appeared and Naruko for the first time in her life saw her, currently very confused, parents.

Her mother was really beautiful. The most beautiful woman she ever saw. She saw that she inherited her face shape and her red hair from her. She was wearing Konoha's jounin uniform without sleeves. From Shinigami's tale she knew that her name was Kushina. She then looked at her father. Her father was a very handsome man. Naruko could see that she got her dark blue eyes from him. He was wearing standard Konoha's jounin uniform and white coat with red flames on the bottom. He was her dad – Minato Namikaze.

Kushina and Minato finally noticed that they were being watched. One person they didn't know, but could feel his power. The other person, though, they instantly recognized, though they couldn't believe who they were actually seeing. With a shaky voice Kushina was the first to speak.

"Na-ruko?"

That was all that was needed to break the shock that was over newly reunited family. Naruko got up from her seat and in the blur she was already hugging her parents, an action that they quickly returned, not actually believing that it was real, but even if it was a dream, they didn't want to wake up. A sentiment Naruko wholeheartedly shared.

Shinigami looked with a smile at newly reunited family and gave them a few minutes to get over their happiness and shock. Then after several minutes it was clear that Naruko wasn't going to release her parents anytime soon he coughed, interrupting the moment.

"While I hate to interrupt the family moment, I'm a very busy person and we have other business to attend to, Naruko. Minato, Kushina you might not recognize me like this, but I'm Shinigami and it was my decision to bring your souls here, inside Naruko's mindspace."

Minato was first to recover and asked the question that was in his and Kushina's mind. "Shinigami-sama, I'm very grateful for bringing us here, but may I ask for what reason you did this?"

Shinigami nodded. "A good question. I decided to grant Naruko her family, no matter how limited your interactions will be. I suppose that I should inform you about the life your daughter had so far. Or better yet, I will show you."

And he did. Before Naruko could protest, her whole life flashed before her parents eyes. All the beatings and pain, all stares filled with hatred directed at Naruko – they saw it all. It was enough to bring both Minato and Kushina to tears. But what followed next made even Shinigami flinch a little. Naruko's mindspace was filled with a killing intent so potent, that it would have killed civilians all around. Naruko watched her parents with fear and awe in her eyes. She could tell that all that killing intent wasn't directed at her and it warmed her heart a little that now she had someone in her life who actually cared about her. And she also made a mental note to NEVER anger her parents.

It took a couple of minutes for Minato and Kushina to take control of their feelings. Killing intent disappeared, but you could still see fury in both of their eyes. Minato was the first one to speak.

"I should have let Kyuubi to burn the village to the ground. I can't believe that villagers are so ungrateful. And I can't believe that Sarutobi let this to happen."

Kushina nodded "If I ever get a chance I will finish what Kyuubi started. I can't believe that none of our friends took her in. I was sure that Mikoto or Tsume would take care of Naruko if something happened."

Minato nodded "Something is wrong. And I can only assume that it is Hiruzen's doing."

Naruko then came to her parents and hugged them both. "Don't be sad, Tou-san, Ka-san, it's not your fault. People are stupid if they can't see past the hatred. What matters now is that you are here and we are a family."

Both Minato and Kushina smiled at their daughter and hugged her back.

Shinigami smiled at the family "Now let's get to other business. First, let's go visit Kyuubi." With that said Shinigami and Naruko with her parents appeared before Kyuubi's cage. Shinigami moved forward and stood before the cage, in the darkness he could see the giant nine tailed fox looking at him.

"How the mighty have fallen. One of the brightest and kindest nature spirits, reduced to a bloodthirsty beast. Do not worry, the end of your suffering is drawing near. First let's restore you to what you were, Kyuubi." with that he moved his hand forward and the cage holding Kyuubi opened. Then a beam of light shot from Shinigami's arm and consumed Kyuubi. Then it cleared before Shinigami stood a beautiful blonde woman. She had a perfect hourglass figure and wore a yellow yukata with fox ornaments. Her eyes were red with slits, but lacked the malice and hatred that Kyuubi's eyes had. She blinked several times and then fell to one knee, bowing to Shinigami.

"Shinigami-sama." Kyuubi said.

"Raise, Kyuubi. We will have lots of time for pleasantries since you will go to my realm with me" Shinigami said.

After that Kyuubi stood up "As you wish, Shinigami-sama."

Shinigami then turned to Naruko. "Now before I and Kyuubi go I have a gift for you, little one."

"A gift?" Naruko tilted her head to a side curiously. She looked very cute at the moment and Kushina had to restrain herself from tackling her daughter into a hug.

Shinigami smiled warmly at the girl. "Indeed, little one. Now, I know that you want to be a ninja, so I will give you something that will help you with that and will be a substitute to the lack of Kyuubi, because you will still be targeted by those who wants to use bijuu for their own needs. Then that time comes you will need all the help you can get. So I will give you something that ninja have hard time on getting."

"What?" Naruko asked.

Shinigami smiled. "Chakra. I know that it's really hard to increase your chakra reserves. You need to work really hard to reach Kage-level reserves and it takes years to get them if you don't have high chakra levels from the start. What I'm going to do is give you limitless supply of chakra. You will never run out of chakra and you will be able to call forward insane amounts of it. Of course you won't be able to do much at first. You will need to work on your chakra control and at first you won't be able to channel large amounts of it, because of the strain to the body. Also I will give you some knowledge on how to use it correctly. It will be step by step – you will need to master easy exercises first to get knowledge on more advanced once. It will give you an edge over all ninjas, because ninjas needlessly use hand signs, then there are better ways of molding chakra."

This got attention of Minato. "What do you mean by other ways, Shinigami-sama?"

"You ninjas limit yourselves by using twelve hand signs to mold chakra. While it's quite good, it limits jutsu to just a few effects. You, of course, know the sealing arts." getting the nod from both Minato and Kushina Shinigami continued. "Sealing arts in reality have limitless potential. Using only chakra and knowledge on sealing it's possible to recreate all jutsu, even jutsu that normally use so-called bloodline limits. Bloodline limits that use eyes in truth use sealing arrays. Chakra pathways in those eyes are arranged in special way, so then chakra is channeled into them they activate special eye techniques. In reality if you could draw them on paper in symbols used in sealing language you would see that eyes are complex seal arrays, that in fact gives them their special abilities. So called elemental bloodlines that give user combined elements like ice and lava work in similar way. You might not know it but chakra is semi-sentient energy. It has memory and if user molds chakra the same way enough times it is recorded in chakra memory and passed down to children. The birth of those techniques was then clans used other ways to mold chakra to create different elements and it was recorded in chakra memory and passed on. So in the sense sealing arrays got coded into chakra memory, making it easier to use certain techniques and that memory is passed down to children, creating chakra and elemental bloodlines. All ninja are able to use five main elements and they could combine them to create knew ones. The only thing that stops you ninja from doing so now days is that knowledge on how correctly train elemental affinities was lost with the death of Sage of Six paths. I will admit that it was smart for him not to pass that knowledge on, but I believe that little Naruko here can be trusted with it, so I will give her knowledge on that too."

"What about 'Dead bone pulse' bloodline and Uzumaki chakra chains?" Kushina asked.

"Ahh. Those are remnants of one true bloodline that I gave to Sage of Six paths. Your Uzumaki clan got dense chakra and vitality, letting you form chakra weapons and write seals in the air using only chakra. Kaguya clan and some other clans got body type bloodlines, because they are related to the Sage. Others, like Uchiha got eye bloodlines, though like I said, those abilities can be used by anyone, if you have the knowledge. Anyways enough about that it's time for me to give Naruko her gift." With that Shinigami got near Naruko and patted her head. In Naruko's mindspace, where Kyuubi's cage used to be appeared a room full of books. "You will find all the knowledge needed for your training there. Now it's time for me to go. Be well, Naruko. I hope that now you will be able to find happiness that you deserve." Shinigami patted girl's head again and turned to Kyuubi.

"Let's go, Kyuubi."

"Wait." Kyuubi said. "Can I give the girl a gift from myself, Shinigami-sama?" she asked.

Shnigami looked at Kyuubi and nodded. "Go ahead, but hurry."

Kyuubi slowly walked near Naruko, a little bit unsure about herself, and kneed on one knee and looked Naruko into eyes. "Naruko, there are no words to describe how sorry I am. I could use excuses that I wasn't in control the day then I attacked, and while it's true, it doesn't change the fact that because of me you suffered greatly. There are no means for me to erase the pain you suffered, but I want to give you a gift for all those birthdays that you couldn't celebrate because of me." she kissed Naruko's forehead and looked into her eyes once more. "Use this gift well, little one, and I hope that one day you will be able to forgive me."

Naruko smiled a little at Kyuubi. "There is nothing to forgive, Kyuubi. I can see that you weren't in control that day and that you actually are a kindhearted person. It wasn't your fault, but if it will make you happy, I forgive you Kyuubi."

Kyuubi smiled to the little girl with tears in her eyes. "Thank you, Naruko. It means a lot for me to hear that from you. You are really unique one and I hope that you will find happiness in the future." she then stood up and looked at Shinigami. "Let's go, Shinigami-sama." Shinigami just nodded and took her hand, both of them silently disappearing.

Minato and Kushina hugged their daughter and Naruko relaxed in their warm embrace. _"This is best birthday ever."_ was Naruko's last thought, before she fell asleep, with a warm smile in her face.

**A.N. **_And cut! A little earlier than I said, but I found some free time to write this one. Next I will __hopefully release a chapter for my other story. It should show up on Sunday or Monday if I won't be able to spare it time during weekend. I hope you will like this chapter and see you soon._

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